


all these lights, they can't blind me

by vastlyunknown



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller
Genre: F/M, M/M, afterlife fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-07
Updated: 2015-08-07
Packaged: 2018-04-13 11:24:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4520061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vastlyunknown/pseuds/vastlyunknown
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A morning shared between afterlife friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	all these lights, they can't blind me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thearcherballet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thearcherballet/gifts).



> A quick birthday present for my darling Adriana! HAPPY BIRTHDAY. I hope this makes you smile.

Patroclus passed by his favourite fig tree and let his hands ruffle the leaves, plucking out a few figs before carrying on his way. It was a quiet morning, everyone seemed to be sleeping still or busy somewhere else. It was funny, Patroclus had lived a big part of his life thinking about the afterlife; how could he have not, knowing the fate of his beloved had sealed his own when he’d been sixteen? However, he never thought people would spend so much time sleeping. It made sense, eternity was a long time and blessed or not, boredom escaped no one.

He thought about who he could spend his morning with, Achilles having been gone from their bed when Patroclus had opened his eyes earlier. He had met a lot of people over the course of the last three millennia, he had made friends and spent many a night talking about science and philosophy and art with people he had watched become notorious for making genius advances in those fields. Those had been memorable nights but he cherished those spent with ordinary people just as much. People who had lived a good life and did nothing remarkable except being good to the people around them. People who had been missed for having touched other with their gentle heart and positive outlook on life. People whose loved ones mourned them until they had passed on themselves. People who taught Patroclus just as much about life in death as the Great Philosophers did.

He made his way to Lily’s little garden. She called it her little garden but it’s one of the most flourished and most beautiful  he’d seen since his death. Lily was not much of a gardener but that didn’t matter, Heavenly Gardens weren’t about gardening anyways. Patroclus found her sitting on one of her swings, gently swaying as she looked over the endless horizon. Her face bloomed with a smile when she saw him approach.

“Pat!” she exclaimed as she held her hand to him and pulled him down for a sweet kiss on the cheek. “I’ve missed you, love!”

“Hello, Lily,” he smiled, sitting on the swing next to her and offering her one of the figs. Her smile deepened as she plucked it from his fingers.

“I love your figs,” she sighed contently.

“I know.”

They ate their breakfast in silence, enjoying the sweet, easy warmth of the morning and the soft rustle of the leaves above their heads.

“Have you seen Harry today?” he asked when he finished his fig, craving the sound of her voice when she talks about her son.

That’s how they met. A few decades back, while Patroclus had been visiting Briseis in the children care garden, he had found Lily playing with a young boy who had curly hair and bright grin eyes. There had been joy on her lips but a heart-breaking sadness in her own green eyes.

“Are you alright,” he couldn’t help asking.

She looked up at him and smiled tremulously. “I miss my son,” she said quietly.  He sat down beside her and she told him about Harry, told him about his wife Ginny, about the baby they were expecting. He felt a sweet ache deep in his heart for her and for the children he and Achilles never had. She came to visit his garden the next day and brought her husband James with her. The week after that she invited him to dinner where Achilles and Patroclus met Sirius, Remus and his wife Tonks.

It was one of the warmest and most enjoyable night of his afterlife. They remained close after that and visited each other frequently. Although, time in the afterlife was a very abstract notion, it did seem like he spent more of it with Lily than with anybody else, besides Achilles and Briseis, of course.  

“He’s visiting Tory and Teddy today. The baby is coming soon,” she smiled.

“Is it a boy or a girl?”

“It’s a girl,” she grinned and he returned the gesture.

“Good!”

They spent a quiet morning together, discussing everything from Briseis latest courting adventures to Tonks’ pet dragon.

Achilles and James appeared with lunch just around the time Lily and Patroclus were discussing it.

“Hello, love,” James beamed, thumping next to his wife and pressing close to her. Achilles send him an unimpressed glance and Patroclus had to contain a smile.

“Hi,” he called and Achilles turned to him, face softening instantly. It was like watching the sun rise, the way he looked at Patroclus. Sheer incandescent beauty.

“Are you alright?” he asked, settling more gracefully than James did.

Patroclus rolled his eyes. “I am dead, Achilles. I’ve been alright for many centuries,” he replied, tone light but Achilles lips twisted sourly; he’s never liked the reminder that Patroclus’ life ended. Patroclus melted. “I am alright,” he promised.

Lily and James were busy unpacking lunch so Patroclus leaned forward and kissed his beloved. “I hate waking up without you,” he whispered.

“I could not sleep and I did not want to disturb you,” Achilles explained, lips brushing against his. Of all the sweetness the afterlife had to offer, Patroclus had yet to find one that compared to these quiet moments shared with Achilles.

Patroclus was just about to kiss him again, a different kind of hunger stirring in his belly, when he felt something hit the side of his face. He turned around and saw a piece of bread fall in the grass besides them. Achilles tensed next to him and Patroclus put a calming hand on the nape of his neck.

“James, I know you’re dead but that doesn’t mean I want to watch Achilles try his best to kill you again,” Lily deadpanned. Patroclus chuckled. He often marvelled at the tone of voice Lily used when speaking to her husband; it held a hint of chastising and a hefty dose of teasing but the warmth of her voice made Patroclus think of the starry nights he shared with Achilles; tender and soft and endless.

“They were doing the thing again,” James smiled genially at his wife and she threw a grape in his face.

Achilles was still sitting straight, back ramrod and unflinching. Patroclus trailed a hand over it, sitting a little closer and offering him a bit of cheese.

“I will catch you, Potter. You can’t hide behind your wife eternally, mighty as she is,” Achilles said making both Potters laugh. Patroclus pinched his side and Achilles relaxed slightly.

“It was only bread and he was only teasing,” Patroclus whispered.

“You were about to kiss me,” Achilles protested and a smiled bloomed on Patroclus’ face.

“Well, I can definitely fix that,” he replied and leaned over to leave a bruising kiss on his husband’s lips. Achilles melted into it, parting his lips invitingly and cradling Patroclus’ jaw.

“You’re right, James. They’re kind of disgusting,” Patroclus heard Lily say and he felt himself flush. He pulled away, watching Achilles’ eyes flutter open, warmth spreading through his chest at the dizzy look in his eyes and the flush high on his cheeks. He ran his fingers through Achilles’ golden locks and felt him nuzzle into the touch.

“Well, if we’re playing that game,” James drawled before pouncing on Lily, making them both fall onto the grass and kissing her laughing lips.

“Please, tell me we are more mature than that,” Achilles pleaded with a raised eyebrow.

Patroclus only pursed his lips before he plopped an olive into his mouth. He only smiled when he felt Achilles shaking with laughter beside him.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm hrhpatroclus on tumblr. Come say hi :)


End file.
